The Golden Bone
with Barry Reynolds - April 23, 2007

Presentations for the Golden Bone

Taking carp on the fly on a regular basis might represent one the greatest challenges left in freshwater fly fishing. Those willing to take this challenge will gain a whole lot of respect for this much maligned fish and become much better fly anglers all around. Besides that, who wouldn’t want to kill a few hours and run down to a local pond or creek and get ripped into their backing on a regular basis?

In order to be successful catching carp on the fly, anglers must be precise in their presentations. Present a fly too close to a carp and they will spook, too far away, they may never see it or just refuse to pursue it as sometimes they have a tendency to be, shall we say, a bit lazy. Kind of like… not wanting to get off the couch and get the remote lazy! So knowing where and how to present a fly to carp will ultimately determine your success.

Let’s go over several different scenarios you will likely find yourself in while pursuing carp and talk about the best approach and presentation options for each. I prefer to pursue carp in clear water for a couple of different reasons. Obviously in clear water carp are much easier to spot. But to take it a step further, if we can see the fish we can also identify their body posture, mood, and behavior, which will tell us a lot about our best approach and presentation.

“Tailing carp”, the easiest and most identifiable behavior, can be seen in very shallow water where they are rooting through bottom matter searching out food. As carp forage along the bottom they will routinely stop, drop their head, exposing their tail, and sift through bottom debris looking for a variety of food items that will range from small crayfish to leeches, snails, and a variety of different nymphs.

“Tailing carp” are prime candidates for us and are most likely to result in a successful presentation. Why? These fish are usually so preoccupied with feeding they are easier to approach, and if you use some stealth you should be able to get close enough to make a good, accurate presentation. Fight the urge to place the fly right on top of them. Instead try to quarter your cast and angle your presentation beyond them (to the outside). Once the fly hits the water strip the fly and try to intersect the fish as it moves forward, then allow the fly to sink down to the feeding zone. When you have put the fly in front of the fish, strip the fly slowly. Many times you will be able to see the carp move towards your fly, drop his head and suck in the fly. At this point continue to strip until you feel the weight of the fish and then using a “strip strike” hook the fish and hang on!

If the fish refuses your first presentation reposition yourself and try again. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts to get your presentation just right! If this fails then try putting the fly right on top of them. Most times this will only spook them but occasionally they will react positively to this presentation like it’s a small crayfish they stirred up and it’s trying to escape. That scenario will shock some people as it is one the few times you will see carp aggressively charge a fly.

While fishing to tailing carp is my favorite scenario it’s not always an option. Many times you will find carp mudding, clooping, cruising, or just simply sunning themselves. Of those four behaviors two of them are note worthy and worth pursuing, as they are likely candidates to take the fly.

Mudding carp are basically the same as tailing carp only they are doing so over deeper water. Gone are the tell tale signs, instead all you are likely to see or spot are areas of muddy or off colored water that is out of place. These disturbed areas of water are great indicators that carp are, or have been foraging there.

In this situation I like to use a heavily weighted fly and probe through these areas of dirty water. I begin by casting to the leading edge of the muddy water and allow the fly to sink to the bottom, and slowly crawl the fly back. Be prepared for very soft and subtle takes and keep in constant contact with your fly during the entire retrieve. Carp can, and will, pickup your fly, count the thread wraps and spit it out before you know what happened, so stay tight with the fly during the retrieve. Once again I like to use a strip strike only using the tip of the rod to set the hook. Remember these fish grow quite large, my personal best is 34lbs in Colorado, and they can separate your fly and leader in a nano second!

The last scenario I discuss is surface feeding carp otherwise known as “clooping” carp. This name comes from the lovely sound they make as they suck assorted food items from the surface. While feeding on the surface, carp can be taking a wide array of food items from cottonwood seeds to assorted mayflies, midges, and even grasshoppers.

In lakes, carp must move themselves toward food items and not rely on items drifting to them. Be prepared to make repeated casts, as their movements are irregular at best and very unpredictable. If there is a breeze, the food items can get swept into concentrated areas and the fish will stack up there making our presentations a little less critical as sheer numbers of fish will lead to fierce competition for items floating on the surface.

Once again I remind you, when you have convinced a carp to take your fly use the “slip strike” to set the hook or the game will be over before it even gets started.

A few tackle notes would be worthwhile for those that have never tangled with these bruisers before. Rod sizes should be matched to the size of fish you are dealing with. For me a 6wt rod is ideal in most situations but I have had the need for 8wt rods as well when super-sized carp are available. My ultimate carp rod is the Scott E2 906/4 as it has the backbone to handle these strong fish but the tip is forgiving enough for the hook set and initial run.

My carp leaders are merely 9ft, 8lb bonefish leaders. Flies will very greatly from area to area but my to favorite and most consistent patterns include the Clouser Swimming Nymph in a rusty brown color, and the Barry’s Carp Fly in bright orange or the same rusty brown. Both of these patterns can imitate a wide variety of food items, which in part makes them so successful. I do vary the weight added to these patterns depending on the water depths I am fishing and at what depth the carp are feeding.

I don’t carp fish because it’s a fad or the thing to do these days, I do so because I know pursuing carp will make me a better and more complete angler. Carp will teach you as much about presentations, approach, how to fight big fish on light tackle as any other fish I know. Next time you have a few hours to kill and want to brush up on your skills give carp a try and I’ll bet they have a thing or two to teach you too.